


Human Qualities

by dear-wormwoods (confunded)



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Bisexual Richie Tozier, F/M, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, M/M, Reddie, Reddie Fairytales, Romance, benverly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2020-09-27 12:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20407720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confunded/pseuds/dear-wormwoods
Summary: “I want tobewith him. Up there, on land, as one of them - as a human. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I’m just not meant to be cooped up in Bill’s palace, and especially not with my mother. I’m supposed to be upthere,” Eddie continued, pointing up toward the surface. “I’ve known for so long, but it was all leading up to this. To him. Just knowing he’s out there… it makes it that much more unbearable to be,” he gestured to his fin, “likethis.”[The Little Mermaid AU]





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally part of the Reddie Fairy Tales Project run by @[richiefuckfacetozier](https://richiefuckfacetozier.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, but time and motivation got away from me, as did the word count, so I decided to post it in chapters instead of all at once. This story means a lot to me, which is part of why it's taken so long to feel ready to share it, so I hope you all enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little background information for events that are relevant to world-building but happened long before the story begins.

Once upon a time, far away in the dark depths of the ocean, lived a merman who longed for the freedom of the world above. Although he could explore at his leisure the great, golden city of Atlantica, as well as the intricate underwater landscapes and vast canyons provided by the ocean floor, the boy, whose name was Edward, felt trapped. Burning within him was a peculiar desire to learn about the ways of humans, the very people whose violent seafaring ways struck so much fear and rage into the hearts of all other merfolk.

This hatred was particularly strong in the heart of Edward’s friend and protector, William, King of the Sea and Keeper of the Trident. 

Years before Edward came to reside at the palace, King William was just a young prince, and the Trident was kept by his father, the late King Zachariah. William - who was known by his friends as Bill - had a carefree childhood and was beloved by the King, his mother the Queen, and his little brother, Prince George. The royal family was in turn beloved by all those who resided in Atlantica, but their contentment was not meant to last.

King Zachariah took pride in maintaining a strong connection to the common merfolk, and wanted to impart that sense of humility onto his sons. _‘There is no sense in sitting on a throne day in and day out,’_ he would tell them, _‘for a King who does not know his people cannot hope to ensure their needs are met.’_ So, on a day that seemed like any other, Bill and his brother, whom he affectionately called Georgie, accompanied their father on a swim to survey the kingdom. 

Though only twelve years of age, Bill was already stoic and dutiful. In contrast, little Georgie was well known for his insatiable curiosity, which would often get him into trouble, and for his wide-eyed innocence, which would subsequently get him out of trouble. On that day, however, Georgie’s curiosity led him into a situation he could not escape from. A shadow passing overhead caught his attention and, being only six years of age and unconcerned with the concept of danger, he swam toward the source of the shadow, unaware it was a human fishing ship. By the time Bill and his father noticed he had wandered off, it was too late, and Georgie had already been caught in an enormous net alongside a doomed horde of fish. 

In an act of desperation, the King rushed to the surface and began to use the power of the Trident to rescue his youngest son. He rose from the sea, coming face to face with a group of shocked and frightened sailors who grew up hearing tales of merfolk sinking ships and luring men into the ocean to drown. Thinking that fate would be theirs as well, they harpooned the perceived threat without a second thought, hardly believing their eyes as they watched the King sink beneath the surface once more. Prince Bill witnessed all of this, and could only watch in horror as his father floated there, dying, the golden Trident slipping from his grasp and falling into the fathoms below. The ship, meanwhile, sailed away with Georgie on board. 

From then on, his brother was presumed dead, for it was widely thought that no one born of the sea could survive on land for long.

The Prince returned to the palace after retrieving the Trident from the ocean floor and told his mother what happened. Queen Sharon was so overcome with grief for her husband and youngest son that she could not bear to rule on her own and grew to resent her only remaining child for being unable to stop the tragedy from happening. Thus, Bill became known as the Boy King, and did his best to rule in his father’s stead while his mother slowly and fatally succumbed to her sorrow. 

Losing his family in such a way forged within the young King’s heart a deep, all-consuming hatred for the human race. He banned all exploration for his people’s safety, not just of the water’s surface, but also of any human ship or artifact that should sink into their territory. He thought if he could prevent another tragedy like the one that befell his family, it would serve as his repentance for failing them.

Time passed, and Bill grew into a stern but reclusive ruler, confiding only in his closest adviser, Stanley. That was how things remained until his eighteenth year, when a young refugee came to him while running from his mother, the Sea Witch, who had long been living in exile. Edward, or Eddie, immediately reminded Bill of his long lost brother. He had the same magnetic innocence about him, and the same terrifying, curiosity. 

Over the next six years, Eddie became the King’s best friend, and the person he loved most in the world. As retribution for what he could not do for his father and brother, Bill swore to protect Eddie with his life, and would gladly go to great lengths to keep him away from both the human threat and the influence of the Sea Witch. 

However, Eddie, as the story goes, had other plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this tiny prologue!  
If you'd like, you can find me on Tumblr @[dear-wormwoods](https://dear-wormwoods.tumblr.com/).


	2. Just a Collection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tired of feeling stuck and yearning for adventure, Eddie is drawn to the idea of becoming human and leaving the ocean behind. It’s just a silly wish, though, a secret he keeps close to his chest... until it isn’t anymore.

Ever since he was a child, Eddie loved sunken ships. Not only did they serve as wonderful hiding places, they almost always contained fascinating objects from the world above. On the outside, the ships had a calm, eerie beauty which drew him in like nothing else ever had before. Inside, the material was damp and rotten, covered in algae, and silent as death, but there was so much evidence that life once existed there. Shiny tools and fine garments littered the floors along with books and paintings, and of course, the bones of the humans who were swallowed by the sea along with their ship.

As the years went by, those wreckages became Eddie’s refuge, magical places belonging only to him. He would swim among the debris, pretending that he was instead floating on the surface of the ocean, on a ship that worked the way it was designed to. He imagined existing as a human alongside the other sailors, who were no longer piles of remains but vibrant and beautiful living creatures. Whenever his mother upset him, whenever he felt trapped, he would go to those secret ships, close his eyes, and whisper to himself about freedom and fresh air. He wondered what it would feel like to spend hours under the warmth of the sun, something he only experienced himself when he breached the ocean’s surface in moments of desperation, when he was feeling particularly brave - or foolish, as his mother would say. 

For the longest time he thought his little explorations were his and his alone, that his mother was none the wiser, but he could not have been more wrong. She found out, of course, and what started out as seemingly genuine concern for his safety slowly turned into much more derisive claims about his _unnatural_ fascination. She tried to fill him with fear of the unknown, and tried harder still to fill him with shame.

_‘Ungrateful boy,’_ she would say each time. _‘After all I’ve done for you, you thank me with this perverse interest in something you can never be a part of. It is as though you enjoy upsetting me!’_

Each time he would deny it, because he _didn’t_ get any satisfaction out of her worry or her tears, but each time her rules became more unreasonable, and her grip on him tightened. She claimed it was for his own good, but with each limit placed on him, his desire for freedom increased. Eventually he began to sneak out while she slept, but knew he was no longer safe from her watchful eye among the sunken ships. He gathered his favorite artifacts, storing them in a small grotto only he knew about. As his collection grew, so did his wanderlust, and as that grew, so did his mother’s temper, all culminating in a monstrous fight on the night of his eighteenth birthday.

His mother, for all her threats and manipulations, had never before tried to use her magic on him like she did that night. He managed to escape her attempt to keep him with her for good, but knew he could never return home if he wanted any hope of gaining true freedom. The last words he heard from her were desperate, fearful predictions that he would get lost, or hurt, and she would not be there to save him. 

Navigation always came easy to Eddie, though. He knew certain parts of the ocean like the back of his hand, so his mother’s predictions did not come to pass. He took refuge in Atlantica for the next six years, knowing his mother could not get to him there, for she had been exiled when Eddie was young and the power of the Trident kept her - and her magic - away. 

Of course, staying cooped up in a palace was hardly any better than being trapped in his mother’s cave, as he soon discovered. It wasn’t long before old habits called out to him, and Eddie began to wander outside of the kingdom’s outer limits in secret, careful not to draw his mother’s attention. Surprisingly, she never confronted him, and he thought maybe - _just maybe_ \- she finally relented and was granting him his freedom. He was, after all, an adult now. So he explored with more confidence, usually returning to his secret grotto afterward to add more items to his collection. More often than not, he was accompanied by his good friend Ben, the only merman Eddie trusted to keep his secrets from the King, who would surely disapprove.

It was on one of these excursions that the two of them discovered a new ship among the already well-pilfered wrecks, perched perfectly upright on a rock formation. Eddie gasped when he saw it, as it seemed so intact he had to wonder how it sank in the first place. He turned to Ben with a wild grin on his face, subconsciously clutching the cloth pouch tied around his waist as he imagined what treasures were hidden inside the wreckage.

“Isn’t it fantastic?” he asked, laughing at the uncertainty written all over Ben’s round face. “Let’s go look around.”

“Eddie, I don’t know about this one, it looks pretty new. There could be -”

Before Ben could finish his sentence, Eddie was already swimming away, his pink and teal fin a bright spot among the eerie, deep green hues of the ship graveyard. With a sigh, Ben quickly swam to catch up to him.

“As I was saying, there could be bodies in there,” he continued, pushing his light brown hair out of his eyes when he reached the other boy.

“There are always bodies!”

“I meant new ones! Bodies that still have skin on them! They get all puffy and weird.”

“Don’t worry, Ben. We won’t _touch_ them. Believe me, I’ve heard all about the horrible diseases carried by humans - my mother told me a hundred times. We’re only looking for new things for my collection. It’ll be quick,” Eddie said with a smile, his big brown eyes pleading and earnest. It was impossible to say no to him, so Ben relented.

When they approached the ship, Eddie quickly found a hole in the hull large enough for them to swim through - it was clearly why the ship failed to stay afloat, though the reason for its existence was just as mysterious as all the other holes in all the other ships. Ben simply figured that humans had weak construction skills, and thought it would do them a lot of good to stop trying to sail altogether. 

“Be careful alright?” he said quietly, slipping through the hole after Eddie, though it was a tighter squeeze for him. “Remember last time? We saw those scavenger bullies, looking for stuff for that sketchy ‘jewelry store’ in the city slums. They almost saw us.”

“Who, Henry and his goons? We don’t need to worry about them, Ben, just let me concentrate and we’ll be out of here before you know it,” Eddie replied, scanning the cabin floor for anything good. He swiftly moved on to rifling through drawers, pocketing a shining gold chain and a smaller band of silver, adorned with a curious circular feature in the center. He hummed with interest and moved onto the next room, leaving Ben to keep watch.

After a moment of silence, Ben heard a gasp and quickly abandoned his post to see if Eddie was alright. He was, of course - more than alright, in fact. He was _ecstatic_, holding up a silver ornament of some sort, long and thin with several prongs on the end. It vaguely resembled other tools in Eddie’s collection, which was no doubt why he was so thrilled by it. Ben couldn’t help but smile at his excitement.

“It’s incredible! I wonder what it’s for,” he mused, tapping his fingers along the dull ends of each prong. 

Ben spotted an oddly shaped item on the floor and swam over to grab it. “What about this one?”

He held it up for Eddie to grab, which he did, examining it closely. Its shape was similar to some of the instruments used for concerts back at the palace, with graceful curves and a large hole on one end, but it was awfully dull looking otherwise. Eddie seemed to make the instrument connection as well, because he blew on the smaller end, face falling when only bubbles came out the other side. 

“Maybe it only works on land,” he said sadly, and dropped it into the pouch at his waist. 

“Is that enough stuff, Eddie? We should get going before those sea urchins show up.”

“Who’re you calling sea urchins?” came a voice from behind them, rough and threatening. Henry and his fellow scavengers hovered by the exit, all three of them with wild, unkempt hair and smiles set with sharp, uneven teeth. Their fins were each different shades of dull gray, in direct contrast to Ben’s deep kelp-green and Eddie’s bright pink. “You boys tryin’ to steal our business?”

“We were just leaving.” Eddie swam up to them confidently - _too_ confidently. Ben followed, because he would never let Eddie face them alone. They’d had altercations with this group before, and all three of them were much larger up close, but he wasn’t afraid. 

Henry let out a bark of laughter and lunged forward to grab Eddie’s wrist, yanking him closer. “Well if it isn’t Kuh-king B-b-billy’s little _pet_,” he mocked, grinning wider as his friends laughed. It was well known that the King had a stutter that began when he was young and grew more pronounced over time, but only Henry and his friends were stupid enough to imitate it.

Eddie scowled and tried to jerk away. “That isn’t funny. Let me go!”

“Hey Vic,” Henry said, as if he couldn’t feel Eddie’s efforts to struggle out of his grasp. “What kind of _services_ do you think a little thing like him provides for the King so he can live in the palace?”

“Not anything I’d stoop low enough to do,” the blond, slimmer merman joked from the doorway. The largest one - known as Belch - laughed. 

Ben’s blood was boiling, both from the disrespect given to the King and the implications made about Eddie. “None of you know what you’re talking about,” he snapped.

“Shut up, manatee,” Belch said, motioning to Ben’s thicker build.

Ben could feel his face heat up with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. “That - that’s _funny_, coming from someone twice my size.”

“Why you -”

“Hold off, Belch. You’ll get your turn,” Henry growled, shooting him a warning look before turning his attention back to Eddie. Still holding onto his wrist with one hand, he grabbed for his bag with the other, ripping it clean off his waist. “Whatcha got in here, princess?”

“I’m not a - wait, don’t!” Eddie cried as Henry dumped out the contents of the pouch, revealing the selection of knick knacks he just gathered. Belch immediately grabbed for the wooden, instrument-like object, and Henry ducked down to pick up the gold chain. 

“Looks like you boys _are_ trying to steal our business,” Henry snarled, shoving the chain in Eddie’s face. “You know my family repurposes human jewelry for a living. Not everyone gets to have a free room at the palace as King _Billy’s_ baby whore.”

“Fine, you can have that one! Just -”

“This thing’s junk, Henry,” Belch chimed in, before grabbing both ends of the wooden instrument and snapping it in two. 

Eddie let out a frustrated groan. “You didn’t have to do that! Why did you do that?!”

“Because he _felt_ like it, now shut up!” Henry snapped, before tightening his grip on Eddie’s arm and twisting it behind his back, causing him to cry out in pain.

Ben couldn’t take it anymore - he’d been waiting for a way out of this and at last he saw one. There, glinting brightly on the floor, was the pronged utensil Eddie picked up earlier. None of the others had noticed it yet, so Ben lunged forward, elbowing Belch in the gut before grabbing the item and swimming up to meet Henry face to face. 

He froze there, thinking of what to do next, but Eddie formulated a plan first. He used his free hand to grab the utensil out of Ben’s grasp, and before any of them had time to process what was happening, he jabbed the blunt end of it into Henry’s right eye. Ben’s jaw dropped as Henry instantly let out a howl of pain and recoiled. What Eddie did wasn’t enough to cause any lasting damage, but it was certainly enough to shock Henry into releasing him, both hands instinctively rushing to protect his face.

There was a moment in which time seemed to stand still and Eddie stared at Henry, half wanting to help him, or at least apologize, and half amazed by his own actions.

“Let’s go!” Ben grabbed Eddie’s arm, pulling him out of the room while Belch and Vic were distracted in their rush to tend to Henry.

“Wow, Ben!” Eddie said, already laughing about it as they exited the ship. He was still holding the pronged object in his hand. “That was amazing!”

Ben began to laugh along with Eddie, but then they heard Henry shout from inside, “Go after them, idiots! Kill them if you have to!”

“Oh no - go, go, GO!!” Eddie yelled, sounding simultaneously panicked and fearless, and laughed more as he pushed Ben to swim faster. “This way!”

Eddie changed directions swiftly and Ben followed, just like he always did, trusting him to guide them both safely back to the palace. 

~~*~~

In a dark cavern not too far away, Sonia the Sea Witch observed all of what just transpired through her oracle bubble. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Eddie and his little friend safely back within the borders of Atlantica, at which point her access to him was cut off, since the Trident’s magic overpowered her own. Although she could not see him when he was at the palace, she at least knew he was safe. It was when he was out on his little adventures that she needed to keep tabs on him. 

It was a good thing she did, too, otherwise there was no telling what could happen. Eddie thought she had relented, acquiesced to his childish fight for _freedom_, and she would gladly let him go on thinking that. He did not need to know about the real reason she hadn’t yet brought him home, which was her ability to watch him from afar.

Sonia was smarter than to capture him by force. She knew her son was too headstrong to accept that. She simply had to be patient, and wait, for he would inevitably come back to her when the world failed him. She knew that it would, just as it failed her, and when it did, she would be there for him with open arms, as any caring mother would.

_This_ little ‘adventure’ was a close call, though. Her Eddie could have been seriously hurt by that horrible low-life and his despicable friends. The only reason she allowed this _charade_ to go on for so long was because she thought she could trust the little Boy King, his Royal Highness _William_, to keep Eddie under lock and key. After all, with the ‘tragedy’ that befell the previous king and the other prince, there was talk of heightened security in Atlantica. No exploration allowed. Yet here Eddie was, flitting around those _disgusting_ sunken ships like always. 

Of course, this meant that not _only_ was the current Keeper of the Trident the son of the merman who sent her to waste away in exile, he was also a _complete_ failure as a ruler. If he could not even keep track of Eddie, how could he expect to rule a kingdom?

Not for nothing, but Sonia knew her expertise in dark magic would make her much more capable of protecting her son, and of ruling over the ocean and all living creatures inside it. With the power of the Trident, she could dispose of the human scourge once and for all - no more conjuring violent storms or poking holes in their silly little ships one by one as she had grown accustomed to. _She_ would see to it that no harm came to Eddie, and it would be karmic retribution if the Trident fell into her hands. She was entitled to it, really.

After all, it was only fitting that she should gain control after getting banished by that failure, King Zachariah. Just as it was _only fitting_ that he and his youngest son perished at the hands of the same monsters that took her Frank away. Before her exile, she began dabbling in the dark arts as a way to channel her rage and her grief over her husband’s senseless murder, and although it corrupted her physical form, it gave her some control during a time when she felt so very lost. In the end, she was exiled _unjustly_. Exiled for grieving! For wanting to protect her son! The nerve...

_Karmic retribution, indeed._ He got what he deserved.

“Handor! Keene! My darlings!” she called, unraveling her tentacles and pushing herself, with some effort, out of her bedchamber. Her two pet eels, which she took in and raised after Eddie so ungratefully _left her_, swam up beside her. “My baby needs a little extra protection. Go keep a close eye on him, and make sure no harm befalls him before he comes back to me.”

They slithered out of the cavern obediently, as always, and she moved closer to her cauldron, where her oracle bubble would pop back up the next time Eddie left the city’s borders. It was only a matter of time before she saw her beautiful boy again… only a matter of time before he would return to her.

Until then, she would watch, and wait.

~~*~~

Back at the palace, Eddie attempted to swim through the throne room unnoticed with Ben following closely behind him. The hall was large and open, with a complex network of passages and archways connecting it to all other areas of the palace. In the center was the King’s seat, perched upon a thin column of sediment and overlooking the entire room. This made sneaking around very difficult, but Eddie thought they could manage it while Bill was busy talking to his adviser, Stan. He needed to make sure he was presentable for dinner... which meant covering up any evidence of his excavation-turned-misadventure.

Unfortunately, nothing ever got past Bill. 

“Eddie!” he called, halting his conversation with Stan to wave him over. Eddie and Ben exchanged a glance, then slowly swam up to the throne. Ben noticed Eddie was still holding the thing he used to poke Henry in the eye, which he realized now looked sort of like a miniature Trident, though _much_ less impressive. He quickly snatched it out of Eddie's grasp before they got too close, then kept a respectful distance from the throne.

Bill was sitting dutifully in his seat as always, his fin a radiant crimson highlighted with gold to match both the crown on his head and his copper hair, which fell neatly to his shoulders. He’d been looking rather bored while he was talking to Stan, but a smile graced his face when Eddie approached him, bringing life to his normally stoic expression. With his bright blue eyes and broad shoulders, he was easily the most handsome merman in the kingdom. Sometimes Eddie thought he might have fallen in love with Bill, were it not for his overprotective nature. Instead, their relationship was more familial - Bill was like a big brother to him… or a father. 

“Where have you been? I ha-haven’t seen you all d-day,” Bill said, and though his smile remained, there was worry in his voice. 

Eddie shrugged. “Just... around.” 

Stan rolled his eyes and flipped his pale blue fin impatiently. Eddie knew what he was thinking - that Eddie had always been a terrible liar, even when it was only a lie of omission. That was _precisely_ why he needed time to himself after he did something he wasn’t supposed to do - to prep excuses and stories, usually with Ben’s help, and to do what he could to avoid prompting any questions at all. 

“Oh. Well, dinner is - wait,” Bill paused abruptly, sitting up straighter. “Come here.”

Eddie glanced at Stan, and then at Ben over his shoulder, before swimming closer to the throne. It wasn’t until Bill reached over and took hold of Eddie’s hand that he noticed the angry red marks around his wrist from when Henry grabbed him. _Oh no_, Eddie thought, his stomach twisting.

“What ha-happened? Who d-did this?”

“Uhhh…”

“Did you go outside the b-borders of Atlantica today?” Bill asked sternly, as though he already knew the answer. “Did you have a situation w-with the Sea Witch? Did sh-she try to t-t-_take_ you?”

“What? No!” Eddie responded immediately. “My mother had nothing to do with this.”

Bill searched his face for any hint of a lie, and when he found none, he grabbed the Trident from its resting place and touched it lightly to Eddie’s skin. The mark glowed golden and began to fade before it ever had the chance to become a bruise, and Bill asked again, “What happened? Tell me, s-so I can deal with whoever’s responsible. Don’t try to t-tell me you got caught in seaweed or s-something, Eddie. That was obviously from someone’s h-hand.”

Once Eddie’s wrist was good as new, Bill released his arm and set the Trident back in its spot. 

“It was… uh,” Eddie began, looking back at Ben for help.

Ben bit his lip, trying to think of a solid excuse on the spot. His efforts did not matter in the end, though, as it never took very long for Eddie to crack under pressure.

“It was Henry… Bowers, the merchant’s son,” Eddie blurted out after barely ten seconds had passed, eliciting a soft groan from Ben.

“The sc-scavenger? Bowers… that idiot thinks I’m not aware he's smuggling and selling human jewelry. I’ll have to move him and his father up on my p-p-priority list for this…”

“Bill, no, that’s not necessary. Really!” Eddie said hurriedly - the last thing he needed was to give Henry another reason to come after him. If wounding his eye didn’t do the trick, getting his father _imprisoned_ surely would.

Stan raised an eyebrow. “What reason could you _possibly_ have to be around him to begin with?”

Bill frowned, regarding Eddie with suspicion. “That’s a good question.”

“He wasn’t doing anything wrong!” Ben chimed in, moving closer. “We were just swimming around and Henry and his big, dumb friends ganged up on us! He took Eddie’s bag - they said horrible things. He made fun of you - uh - Sir, I mean, Your Highness. They weren’t going to let us leave, but then Eddie - he was so brave - he jabbed _this_ thing right into Henry’s eye -”

By this point, Ben was animatedly reenacting the situation, and he realized too late that he was brandishing the item they got from the ship in Bill’s direction, right in plain sight. 

Bill practically leapt out of his seat. “What is that?!” 

“Nothing!” Eddie snatched it out of Ben’s hand and held it behind his back. “Just a stick!”

“That’s n-no stick, Eddie! It’s f-from a human!” he said, grabbing Eddie by the shoulder and spinning him around easily to take it from him.

“Bill!” he pleaded as he was forced to let it go. 

“Where did you g-get this?!” Bill nearly shouted, holding it up in front of Eddie’s face, his eyes wide and agitated. “Were you in one of those ships? Or d-did you - did you go to the surface?!”

“No, not the surface! I was…” Eddie sighed, defeated. “We were exploring. There was a ship. I just… found it. Nothing _happened!_”

Bill scoffed and backed away from him, shaking his head. “Sure, n-nothing happened _this_ time, Eddie, but there’s a r-r-_reason_ going into those ships is against the law!!”

“I don’t understand what’s so wrong about it, Bill! Their ships - their things, it’s all so fascinating! If you’d only -”

“No! H-how m-many times do I ha-have to explain this to you? T-t-touching their things leads to going to the s-suh-surface, and g-going to the s-surface leads to ge-getting c-c-_caught!!_” Bill stopped and took a deep breath, trying to regain some control over his stutter. When he spoke again, his voice was calm, though strained, and his expression had softened. “And getting caught leads to getting killed.”

Against his better judgment, Eddie kept going. “But Bill, if you only saw the things _I’ve_ seen, you’d-”

“I’ve seen enough!” Bill snapped, the pain in his eyes as evident as the flush in his cheeks. “What I saw as a kid was m-_more_ than enough, Eddie. If this c-continues, you’ll end up in a net, just like Juh-Georgie, and I can’t -” He dropped the utensil, averting his eyes to watch it sink to the floor. “I can’t go through that again, n-not with you.”

Eddie glanced at Stan and ignored the look of warning he gave him, before moving closer to Bill. 

“Nothing’s going to happen. I know what happened to Georgie and the King was horrible, but…” He bit his lip, knowing this was a good time to stop talking, but unable to help himself. “I know they aren’t all like that, Bill, I can _feel_ it. I just -”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

“Eddie.” Bill’s voice was firm, indicating that the conversation was over. “You c-can’t do that again. M-maybe you think the laws don’t apply to you be-because I let you stay here, but they _do_.”

“Bill, you know that’s not what I -”

A glare from Bill was all it took to get Eddie to finally cut himself off. After a moment, the King continued, “Let me make myself clear: this ends n-now, before you end up like Georgie, or my father - or your _own_ f-father. No more ‘exploring’ unless I’m with you. It’s for your own g-good.”

Eddie wanted to keep arguing, because there was nothing he hated more than the phrase _‘it’s for your own good’_, but Bill turned away and went back to his seat. There was no use, anyway. He’d never be able to make Bill understand how much he _needed_ this. Lip trembling and throat tightening, he turned and rushed out of the room - not toward his bedchamber, but back out the way he came. 

Ben stayed back and considered saying something else in Eddie’s defense, but he didn’t. He simply dived down to retrieve the human item before following his friend outside.

“Stan,” Bill said once the two of them were gone. “I want you to k-keep an eye on him for me, just for a day or two. I know he’s n-not g-going to listen, he’s too st-stubborn.”

Sighing, Stan nodded. “Yes, your majesty, of course.” 

~~*~~

Following Eddie around wasn’t exactly Stanley’s idea of the best use of his skill set _or_ his time, but he wasn’t about to argue with Bill, especially since the King could be rather unreasonable where Eddie was concerned. So, he sucked it up and followed him and his friend. Ben was only an acquaintance to Stan, but he seemed nice enough, and likely wasn’t a bad influence on Eddie. If anything, it was the other way around. 

The two of them swam through the kelp forest east of the city and stopped in front of a flat slab of rock. Stan stayed silent and hidden as he watched Ben hand off the item from earlier to Eddie, then push the rock aside with some effort, revealing a small cavern opening.

“What the…” Stan whispered, wondering again why he agreed to act as a spy. He could already say, with confidence, that he did _not_ want to know what was going on here.

Once Eddie and Ben were both out of sight and the rock rolled back into place, Stan swam forward and pulled it back again, slipping into the grotto entrance as quietly as he could. The sight he was met with was unexpected, though perhaps it shouldn’t have been - the narrow entry gave way to a large open space wherein the walls were decorated with a wide array of human artifacts. The floor was littered with them as well, which bothered Stan - seabeds were not meant for storing things. More importantly, if that ridiculous metal thing was enough to make Bill fly off the handle earlier, Stan didn’t want to imagine what he would do if he saw all of _this_ nonsense. 

The grotto was dimly lit through an opening in its ceiling, and in the center, lying on a flat rock and looking forlorn, was Eddie.

“Are you alright, Eddie?” came Ben’s voice from off to the side somewhere. Stan crouched down behind a rock so as not to be seen. 

“I just… don’t understand why he can’t listen. He’s supposed to be my friend, but half the time I feel like he treats me like a child,” Eddie replied glumly, toying with the same silver utensil that caused all of this drama to begin with. “Or one of his _subjects_. Is it so wrong of me to want him to hear me out for once?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“I know he’s been hurt, I don’t want to make light of what happened to his family, but… humans took my father as well. My mother told me all the time, how they caught him like a common fish and she never saw him again,” Eddie said, his pink fin moving languidly behind him. “I have as much reason to hate them as he does, but still, I _know_ they aren’t all bad. Maybe I’m just being naive, but…”

He sighed, reaching forward to place the object in some sort of display contraption, alongside other, similar looking items. “I wish I could make him see what I see, you know? A world that makes such wonderful things can’t be bad.”

Ben moved toward him, perhaps for comfort, but stopped when Eddie sat up abruptly. Stan crouched down more, though he was fairly sure Eddie would not notice him now if he hadn’t already. 

“I mean, look at this stuff,” he said to Ben, making sweeping motions with his arms to show off his collection. “The artwork, the little details…” He swam over to the far wall to pick up a painted canvas that displayed images Stan could not recognize. “Humans put so much love and care into the things they create. But the ocean, it destroys everything it touches.” Gently, almost tenderly, Eddie ran his fingertips over a section of the painting that had eroded and cracked. “What I wouldn’t give to see things like this the way they were meant to be seen.”

Stan’s brow furrowed in confusion, and he couldn’t have been prepared for what came next if his life had depended on it.

“I want to be up there, Ben,” Eddie said as he set the painting back in its spot. He ducked down to pick up a small box and opened it, revealing carved figures of two humans clutching one another. He twisted a knob on the side and smiled as the figures began to turn. “Not here - I don’t belong down here where it’s always dark and everything fades. I want to feel the sun and the sand and - and to run and dance.” He gently closed the box in his hands and set it down. “I want freedom. I want to be one of them.”

Stan’s jaw dropped - not that achieving such a goal was _possible_, but Eddie voicing it out loud was alarming in itself! What would Bill think? This was a worst case scenario, surely. Stan could feel his anxiety spike as he watched Eddie make his way back to the center of the grotto, looking completely thrilled by his own imagination.

“Can you imagine all of the things I could do?” Eddie asked and looked at Ben, who was watching him with an encouraging but uneasy smile. “My life would be totally different. No rules, no curfews or limits… I’d never have to worry about bumping into my mother, or Henry… I’d never feel stuck again.”

Stan couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t wait around for Eddie to do something stupid, because that would run the risk of Bill coming down hard on _both_ of them. No, that wouldn’t do. So he swam out into plain view, clearing his throat. 

“Eddie.”

Both of the other boys gasped and whipped around, Eddie immediately looking distraught. “Stan! I -”

“First of all, are you _insane?_ Secondly, what is all of this?” Stan snapped, gesturing to the assortment of human trash surrounding them. 

“It’s just a... collection,” Eddie answered innocently enough, as though he had no idea he was, according to the law, hoarding contraband. Stan didn’t know why he bothered pretending he didn’t know any better, as he was an awful liar.

“That act doesn’t work on me, Eddie,” he said sternly. “If the King knew about this, he’d -”

“You can’t tell him!” Ben suddenly said, far more firmly than Stan thought him capable of. 

Eddie surged toward him, hands clasped pleadingly. “Oh Stan, you can’t tell Bill - please don’t, he would never understand! You saw him earlier, he can’t be reasoned with!”

“You have no idea how dangerous this is, do you? It’s against the law to own any of this - this _garbage!_ We need to get you out of here and block up the entrance, pretend this place doesn’t exist, and-”

A shadow passed overhead just then, momentarily surrounding them with pitch blackness and promptly ending Stan’s frenzied lecture. 

“What is that…?” Eddie whispered, immediately losing interest in Stan and swimming up to the cavern’s exit as though hypnotized. Ben and Stan looked at each other, faces turning quickly from confusion to worry before following after him.

Noises which were barely audible at the bottom of the ocean grew louder and louder as they swam closer, turning into thunderous booms once they broke the surface. There was no storm, though - only huge bursts of color exploding in the night sky, all surrounding a large ship.

_Humans._

“Eddie, don’t you dare -” Stan began, but finishing his sentence was useless, as the boy had already started to swim toward the ship. 

Positive that Eddie was going to give him a heart attack before the night was over, Stan helplessly called after him, to no avail. Even Ben’s equally stressed shouts seemed to fall on deaf ears.

And in her lair down below, the Sea Witch watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!  
If you'd like, you can find me on Tumblr @[dear-wormwoods](https://dear-wormwoods.tumblr.com/).


	3. Hits Like Lightning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie dares to approach a working ship, Richie gets an embarrassing birthday present, and lightning strikes in more ways than one.

Eddie had never seen a working ship before, only the sunken wrecks he’d come to know so well. He’d never dared to breach the water’s surface when a ship was nearby, but there was something about this one that seemed to call to him. As he drew closer, he saw why. 

Bright colors shot up and away from the ship into the night sky, which was itself littered with shining stars, the likes of which Eddie never before had the chance to stop and appreciate. Wonderful music floated off of the deck, and the ship itself was so much more magnificent in its shining, lively splendor than anything Eddie had seen down below. No holes, no cracks, its windows lit bright yellow from within, life and movement everywhere… it was more beautiful than he imagined

The ocean sucked beautiful things down into its depths and ruined them. It was all so clear to him now that he was witnessing this marvel of human construction in all of its glory, the way it was _meant_ to be seen.

He knew Stan and Ben were calling out to him, but he had to ignore them. At least for right now. Carefully, he swam up to the side of the ship and looked for a ledge to grab onto. His heart was racing, but he liked it. He felt fear, but more than that he felt _certainty_. Some unknowable force was propelling him forward, urging him on - he’d never taken such a risk before, but for some reason he knew it would be okay. 

Soon enough he found a ledge that was sturdy enough to hoist himself up with and thick enough to sit comfortably on. What’s more, it was conveniently located next to a small opening in the railing that surrounded the ship’s deck, allowing him to carefully watch what was happening, which was, apparently, some sort of party. All around the deck, human sailors danced along with the music they played, and Eddie couldn’t help but smile as he watched them. They were all so funny, perfect in their own way - all different shapes and sizes that were somehow so uniquely _human_. Though merfolk were also widely varied in their appearances, it just wasn’t the same.

While he was lost in his reverie, he failed to notice that a much smaller, much _hairier_ creature which was most certainly _not_ human picked up on his scent and was fast approaching Eddie’s hiding spot. Far too late, he gasped and tried to flatten himself against the ship’s hull, closing his eyes as though doing so would make the creature go away. 

_Please please please_, he thought frantically, begging the nameless force that brought him here not to cut this moment short. He didn’t want to have to leave so soon, not when he was this close. After taking four deep breaths, he dared to peek back around the corner. 

The creature was still there, waiting for him, and when they made eye contact he briefly thought that maybe Bill and his mother were right all along and this moment would be his last… but it didn’t attack - instead, it licked his face excitedly, causing him to giggle. 

A whistle caught the creature’s attention, and a pleasant voice followed. “Nellie!! Get over here!” 

Eddie’s eyes followed the creature as it scampered away and stopped at someone’s feet. His gaze moved up, and his breath caught in his throat. It was a man. He was more handsome than any merman, even the King, and more perfect than any human featured in any of the paintings or illustrations Eddie kept in his collection. 

Of course, nothing about him was _actually_ perfect by any means, but his imperfections were exactly what made Eddie’s heart race. 

The man knelt down to play with the shaggy beast, and his laughter rang clearer and louder than the music playing. When he smiled, Eddie could see a small gap between his two front teeth. His hair was black and wild, untamed from the ocean winds. Even from where he sat, Eddie could see the bright blue of his eyes, but he wore peculiar frames around them, similar to some of the items Eddie had in his collection. He never knew what they were for, before now. Well, he still wasn’t sure what they were for, exactly, but they sure did _look_ interesting. 

He was absolutely wonderful.

After propping his elbows on the edge of the deck, Eddie let his chin rest wistfully in the palm of his hand, momentarily forgetting that he could easily be seen. The man was now playing an instrument, a hollow one with strings attached, and as he strummed it along with the other musicians, the hairy creature he called ‘Nellie’ jumped around barking joyfully as if he were dancing and singing too. Eddie laughed, thinking that he would give just about anything to join them. 

A second man walked to the center of the deck, snapping Eddie out of his fantasies and back to reality. He ducked down again, mostly out of sight but still peering over the ledge to see what was happening. This man was quite handsome, too. He seemed to be the same age as the one with the perfectly imperfect smile, but he had much darker skin and neatly trimmed hair. He too wore frames around his eyes. Eddie wondered if eye jewelry was a common human custom. 

“Attention! Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” he called out, but was seemingly ignored by the other sailors. “Can I - oh God damn it.”

“Hey everybody!” The blue-eyed man clapped his hands together twice. “Shut the fuck up! Mikey has something to say!”

The music stopped, replaced by some laughter that died down fairly quickly. The other man, whose name must be ‘Mikey’, cleared his throat. “Ah, thank you, Richie.”

_Richie, his name is Richie!_

“Alright. It is now my honor to present Prince Richard with his birthday present! It’s very… uh, _special_. And far too expensive,” Mike said, gesturing to a large, formless shape beneath a huge canvas. “I must warn you, it was your _mother_ who commissioned it. So be nice.”

“At last, the secret is revealed!” Richie shouted happily and clapped as a couple of crew members unveiled the gift. The other sailors clapped, too, and then quickly returned to talking among themselves.. 

It was immediately clear to Eddie that it was supposed to be a statue of Richie (who was apparently a _prince_) posing regally and holding a weapon in one hand. But while Eddie gasped in wonder at its magnificence, Richie visibly grimaced. “Oh. Yowza. That is… uh...”

“Something _the Queen_ had made for _your_ twenty-fifth birthday,” Mike finished for him. 

“... Right, yeah. It’s… _something_, alright,” Richie joked, then leaned over to whisper to his little friend, Nellie, “_something out of my fucking nightmares_.”

“I heard that. You’re lucky your mother isn’t here to see the face you just made,” Mike pointed out, though he was smiling warmly. “Admittedly it’s a version of you that’s a bit, uh, uncharacteristically dressed up, but it’s still a good likeness, don’t you think?”

“If you say so. Very kingly. Like gazing into my future,” Richie responded with exaggerated whimsy. “The dead, soulless eyes, the perpetual frown, the painfully tense shoulders...”

Mike snorted. “Yes, you have _such_ a rough life.” There was a pause in which Mike shifted uncomfortably. “Your mother was hoping to present it as a coronation gift after your _wedding_, but…”

“Oh come on, not you too. Mom will _not_ shut up about how I rejected the last two princesses she brought to the castle,” Richie said, rolling his eyes. “They didn’t like me either, Mikey! I swear I thought one of them wanted to smack me by the time she left. And the other one actually _did_ smack me.”

He rubbed his cheek dramatically and attempted to look hurt, but his laughter broke through the charade easily. Eddie's heart skipped a beat as he was forced to stifle his own laughter. _Oh no, he's funny._

“It isn’t only the Queen, Richie. It’s the whole kingdom!” Mike explained, clearly exasperated. “You are now well into marrying age and everyone wants to see you happily settled down so you can finally take on the title of _King_. As nerve-wracking as that image is for the rest of us...”

“Yeah, yeah…” Richie rolled his eyes and walked toward the spot where Eddie was hiding, causing him to gasp and hide out of sight again. “The right person is out there somewhere, I promise. I just haven’t found her yet, or… you know, maybe they won’t be a ‘her’ at all.”

Eddie’s eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat as he looked up to the ship’s railing, which Richie was now leaning on casually, looking out toward the horizon. Eddie knew it was fairly unusual to find other mermen attractive in the same way he did, so Richie being open to possibilities aside from human women was both surprising and absolutely thrilling. 

It meant if Richie ever saw _him_, maybe he would...

“Well… you know how your mother feels about that,” came Mike’s voice. “She’s not _completely_ opposed, as marriage is marriage, but she would certainly prefer if you found a _lady_ to bring to the altar. Continuing the family line and all that. Maybe if you simply looked harder...”

“Ugh, yeah maybe, but maybe not! Who knows, Mike? I certainly fucking don’t,” Richie said, frustration evident in his voice. He turned around, and Eddie let out the breath he was holding in. “Maybe I’ll never find someone who will actually _want_ to put up with me. But if there _is_ such a brave soul out there, when I find them I’ll just… I’ll _know_, okay?”

Richie paused and let out a chuckle that made Eddie’s heart soar. He wanted to call out to him, to tell him _he_ was the one, that if they only talked, even for just a little bit, he’d _know_, just like he said, and the whole not-having-legs thing would just be a small obstacle to overcome!

“It’s pointless to bother _looking_,” Richie continued. “Eventually someone might come along and… it’ll just hit me. Like lightning!”

Then, as if Richie summoned it with his words, thunder rumbled in the distance, followed by a strike of lighting on the horizon. Eddie risked looking at the deck again as the entire crew, including Richie and Mike, leaped into action and began to get the ship ready for the incoming storm. The immediate sense of panic in the air was palpable, causing Eddie’s throat to tighten, and within minutes the waves grew restless beneath the ledge he was perched on.

He held on tighter as the ship started to rock with more force, as the thunder and lightning became closer and more frequent, and as the movements of the men on board grew more frantic. The wind picked up its intensity, bringing with it dark clouds and pouring rain. Eddie did not understand how this could happen so quickly; the water had been so calm, the sky so clear, only minutes before. Yet soon the ship was drenched - whether from the storm itself or the crashing waves, Eddie couldn’t tell. 

All he could hear were the shouts of the men, Richie’s voice indistinguishable among them. An enormous wave crashed without warning, forcing the ship almost onto its side and thrusting Eddie’s body violently against the wooden siding. Unable to hold on any longer, he let go of the ledge and let the waves take him back to the sea. Stan and Ben were nowhere to be seen among all the commotion, but Eddie couldn’t worry about them right now. 

He swam up to the surface again, trying to ignore the terrified twisting in his gut. He knew storms raged on the open waters and were often to blame for the wrecked ships he so loved to explore, but he’d never been in the middle of one before. He never stopped to really truly reflect on the fact that the skeletons hidden in those wreckages were once _people_, like the ones he was watching right now, real and alive and scared for their lives. They were just fantasies to him before. He never truly thought about the harsh reality that he was scavenging _gravesites_, not until now. 

A bolt of lightning struck the top of the ship, igniting the cloth and wood in flames almost instantly. Eddie gasped in horror at the sudden burst of light and heat, eyes darting wildly for any sign of Richie on board, but he was too far away to see clearly. _Fire_ \- he’d seen it in paintings, knew the word for it from books, but he could never have imagined something so terrifying and destructive as this. 

“NO!” he cried as another wave caused the ship to turn further off course, right into a rock formation. That’s why there were so many wrecks, Eddie realized. The ships couldn’t navigate around the mountainous rocks surging up from the ocean floor. The wooden hull cracked sickeningly, like bones snapping, and the ship stopped so suddenly that many of the men on deck were knocked overboard. 

As the flames spread, whoever was left on deck after the crash lowered two smaller boats down and joined their fellow sailors in the water. Eddie swam toward the ship as the men began to pull their peers to safety. He still couldn’t see any sign of Richie, didn’t even know if he made it off the ship until -

“MIKE! Mike grab on!!”

Eddie whirled around to see Richie, safely in one of the small boats only a few yards away, grabbing onto his friend’s hand and helping him aboard. Relieved, Eddie considered diving back underwater to avoid being seen, but a familiar sound caught his attention.

Barking, the noise Richie’s animal friend was making earlier. It was coming from the ship, only now it sounded more panicked than excited. The sound must have caught Richie’s attention too. Eddie could hear men calling his name, but when he looked back at the lifeboat, Richie was gone. 

He came up next to the hull of the burning ship and climbed up the ladder built into the side, the same one Eddie had used earlier to sneak up to the ledge. _No! Don’t be stupid!_ he thought frantically, but he was, at the same time, impressed by the prince’s bravery. The animal must be important to him, and worth saving just like any human. 

Eddie could barely make out what was happening through the pouring rain and billowing smoke, but through it all he saw the animal get thrown into the water, and watched it swim toward the lifeboat when Mike called its name. 

Richie, on the other hand, was still on board.

_Why isn’t he jumping?!_ Eddie thought, heart racing.

More lightning lit up the sky and hit the ship. The wood splintered and cracked again, eliciting more shouts from the men as the flaming ship broke free from the rocks and began to sink into the sea. Eddie knew that the ship would drag Richie down with it and he would become yet another pile of bones waiting to be picked apart by carnivorous sea life and scavengers like Henry and his gang. Or like himself, he realized grimly. 

He couldn’t let that happen.

The ship was sinking faster now, so Eddie dove into the water and swam as quickly as he could toward it. The illumination provided by the fire was dimming by the second as the ocean put an end to each flame it touched, but there, just beneath the surface, Eddie saw him. Richie was still attached to the boat, and seemed to be unconscious - or worse… already dead. 

By the time Eddie reached him, the ship was completely submerged and pulling Richie down with it. He grabbed him under his arms, encircling his chest, and pulled, but nothing happened. The water was still pulling him down into the blackness below, because Richie’s foot was stuck between planks of splintered wood, and all of Eddie’s strength couldn’t compete with the might of the ocean.

“No, no this can’t be happening!” he cried desperately.

“Eddie!” 

He looked up to see Ben and Stan swimming up to him, their mouths open in shock. Never before had he felt so grateful to see either of them.

“Help me get him out!” he begged them. “Please!!” When they hesitated, he let out a choked sob. “Come on! You don’t have to do anything else, just help me get his foot unstuck before he drowns!! PLEASE!”

Ben’s eyebrows knitted together and he surged forward, straight to the spot where the ship was clinging to Richie’s body. He tried to pull his foot out, while Eddie held him tightly and blinked desperately up at the surface, watching as it moved further and further away. 

“Ben!! Hurry!” he yelled, then looked at Stan. “Help him!”

Stan shook his head, looking both apologetic and terrified.

Ben stopped trying to get the boot loose when he realized he could easily remove it. He found the clasps and undid them with steady hands, shouting triumphantly when Richie’s foot slipped free and the pull of the ship relented. 

“Thank you,” Eddie said, smiling gratefully at Ben before propelling himself upward, one arm still wrapped tightly around Richie’s chest. 

When they broke the water’s surface, the storm was still going, though it was more distant. The rocks the ship struck were further away as well, prompting Eddie to realize that the current must have pulled them away from the site of the crash. Feeling panicked again, he looked around for one of the little boats Richie’s friends were on, but couldn’t see them in the darkness.

He looked at Richie, noticing that the frames he’d been wearing around his eyes were gone now. He was bleeding from a cut near his hairline, like he’d been struck on the head by something, and his eyes were closed as if he were just sleeping. Eddie could only hope that was the case.

Realizing he wasn’t going to find the other sailors now, he decided to bring Richie ashore himself. Only he had no idea where the shore was.

_Don’t panic. Don’t panic. If you panic he’ll die. Just breathe_, he thought, and closed his eyes, hugging Richie tighter against him to keep his head above water. 

He tried to visualize the ocean floor below. The cave that contained his collection was part of a rock formation, and the ship passed just over it. It couldn’t have gone far before the storm hit - it must have struck the larger rocks nearby. And… the ship was moving in the opposite direction from Atlantica, which was deeper into the ocean. That meant the ship must have been going back toward shore, not away from it. And in relation to his grotto, the sea floor began rising to the right of its entrance, so that meant...

Eddie opened his eyes and looked to his right. He couldn’t see the shore, but he knew it was there. He’d never gotten lost before, not as long as he stopped to think about where he was. He had to believe this wouldn’t be the first time.

And he was right. 

The sky was getting lighter by the time they got close to the beach, because Richie’s body slowed him down, but they made it. The prince had coughed up sea water twice during their swim, but he had yet to wake up.

“Please don’t die,” Eddie pleaded tiredly. He’d been repeating the phrase like a mantra since their journey began, as if it would force him to keep pushing forward, or help keep Richie alive. 

He could see, through the fog and the soft grey-blue of the early morning sky, the vague outline of an enormous building on a cliff straight ahead. It looked pretty extravagant, so he figured it must be where Richie lived. He was, afterall, a prince. So Eddie swam closer to that destination, and was finally able to drag Richie’s limp body ashore a few minutes later. 

Once Richie was laid out on the sand, the waves calmly lapping at his feet now that the storm had long since passed, Eddie collapsed on top of him. 

“Please don’t die,” he repeated, laying his head on Richie’s chest and closing his eyes. Hopelessness washed over him, and he couldn’t stop a few stray tears from rolling over his cheeks and onto Richie’s wet shirt, which took him by surprise. Was that normal? For water to leak from his eyes when he cried? He supposed he would never have noticed underwater.

If he started crying, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop, so he began to hum instead. There was no tune in particular, he just wanted to distract himself from the despair creeping into his mind. 

Faintly, he could hear a soft thumping beneath his ear. A heartbeat. Richie was still alive.

The world around them grew brighter as the sun rose above the horizon, and Eddie lifted his head to examine the prince’s face. His jawline was sharp, clean-shaven aside from the shadow of stubble. His lips were parted and soft, his dark eyebrows just slightly knitted together in pain. Eddie’s eyes moved up to see that the cut on Richie’s forehead had stopped bleeding. Eddie wished he had the Trident with him to make it just disappear, the way Bill had used it to fix the mark Henry left on his arm. 

Instead, he scooted up, his fin curling in the damp sand, and leaned over Richie’s face to brush his lips lightly against the wound. It was all he had to offer. 

Richie suddenly coughed up more water, which caused Eddie to jerk back, but his eyes still didn’t open. After a moment, Eddie cautiously moved closer again and timidly brought his hand up to brush a lock of Richie’s hair out of his face. It was beginning to curl slightly on the ends as it dried. Even up close, he was perfect. 

Smiling, Eddie combed his fingers through Richie’s damp hair, and began to hum softly again.

~~*~~

There was a voice.

_“Please don’t die, please don’t die…”_

Richie didn’t know where it was coming from - it echoed in his mind, as though someone was trying to call him to the surface. The surface… yes, because he’d been underwater. There was fire, his dog - so much _fire_ \- then a sudden, overwhelming cold. He remembered holding his breath, a sharp pain, and finally… nothing. 

Nothing until now, as the voice seemed to grab hold of him and pull him into consciousness. He could feel delicate fingers brushing through his hair. But his head was pounding, it seemed like the dry land beneath him shouldn’t be there at all, and yet…

Someone - whoever had brought him here - was humming now, gentle and comforting, as their hand moved from his hair down to his cheek, leaving behind warmth where before there was only cold. Richie leaned into the touch and could feel the warmth of the sun on his face now, enveloping him and bringing him fully to his senses. 

Finally, he found the strength to bring his hand up to take hold of the one cupping his face. The touch sent waves of electric heat through him, forcing his eyes open at last.

Never in his life had Richie wished more desperately for perfect vision, because the face that belonged to the mystery voice was hovering right above him, bathed in the light of the rising sun, but their features were just blurry enough not to be distinct.

Their eyes met, though, and Richie squinted, trying to commit them to memory forever. Big, wide doe eyes, the color a brown so rich and warm that Richie wasn’t sure he needed the sun after all, or ever again. When he smiled, his savior sighed and returned the gesture.

“You’ll have to excuse my squinting,” he said deliriously, his voice coming out raw and not nearly as charming as he intended. “‘It’s just that I’ve seen a lot of unidentifiable blobs in my day, but you’re the most beautiful one yet.”

Their eyes widened, but so did their smile. Then they laughed, and Richie’s heart fluttered. He was suddenly positive he’d died and gone to heaven, because nothing had ever, or would ever again, sound as nice as that laugh. 

Sure, he’d made a lot of people laugh before, but this was different. _This_ was a laugh he wanted to hear over and over, for the rest of his life. It was the kind of laugh a guy could fall in love with.

“Fucking beautiful,” he mumbled, tightening his grip on their hand. He squinted so hard it made his head hurt even more, but their features simply refused to come into focus. “Who are you?” 

“I -”

Barking sounded in the distance and almost instantly, the brown eyes that so captivated Richie were gone, and the hand was ripped out of his grasp before he could register what was happening. 

A gasp, a flash of pink, a splash, and then nothing.

“Wait!” he tried to shout, but his voice came out cracked and hoarse. He sat up and looked around, but there was no one there. He knew his vision was bad, but it wasn’t so terrible that he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a person and _sand_. It was like they just… disappeared - or had he dreamed the whole thing?

“Richie!” he heard Mike call out from somewhere nearby. “Holy shit, Richie!”

He was practically knocked onto his back again as his dog, Nellie - short for Officer Nell, the name of a palace guard he loved to annoy when he was a kid - tackled him excitedly. Mike was at his side shortly after, helping him up. 

“We were so worried, we thought you were - we’ve been searching the coast all night, hoping… God, Richie, the Queen will be so relieved!” his friend and adviser babbled, causing Richie to finally look at him. “You really do love stressing all of us out, don’t you?

Mike laughed, although there were tears in his eyes, but Richie couldn’t think about that now - not about Mike’s worry, and certainly not his mom’s.

He tried to walk away, but swayed a bit, forcing Mike to catch him by the arm. “Someone saved me - a boy, or… a girl?” 

It hit him that he had no idea what their gender was - only that they had beautiful eyes, and a beautiful laugh. Everything else was a blur because of his damned, shitty vision. That, compounded with getting knocked senseless and nearly drowning, made sorting through what just happened nearly impossible. The eyes were burned into his brain but weren’t in focus. The laugh, fuck, he’d know it anywhere, he’d never forget it… which meant it belonged to a stranger. A perfect stranger that had apparently disappeared into thin air.

But fuck, when he touched their hand, he felt it, a current that shot through him, igniting him. The sensation left him only when their hand slipped out of his grasp. Whatever it was, it hit him, full force. 

_Like lightning._

“They saved me! And - and I made them laugh!” he suddenly continued, desperately stumbling away from Mike and looking around again, heart sinking. There was nothing, only Mike, and the lack of focus was starting to make his already pounding head feel even worse. Nellie was over by the water, barking pointlessly at the sea. He groaned and grabbed his head. “_Ah_, fuck.”

“You hit your head, Rich. Let’s get you back to the castle and get someone to take care of that cut,” Mike said, grabbing Richie by the arm and slinging it around his shoulders so they could walk together. He whistled for the dog to follow them. “You’re talking nonsense… probably a concussion. It’s a miracle you made it to shore alive…”

“Yeah… a miracle,” Richie answered vaguely, letting Mike lead him away. He could make out the blurry form of his home up on the cliff. Whoever saved him brought him to exactly the right place, so it couldn’t have been random… or all in his head. It couldn’t have.

He looked back at the ocean, the water flat and sparkling blue, sending calm waves ashore as though it was beckoning to him, calling him back. 

No, it wasn’t in his head. Whatever just happened… it was real, he could feel it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!  
If you'd like, you can find me on Tumblr @[dear-wormwoods](https://dear-wormwoods.tumblr.com/).


	4. Seaweed is Always Greener

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie can't stop thinking about who saved him, and Eddie gets a new addition to his collection with disastrous results.

Later that morning, Richie sat in the service area of the castle wearing a fresh pair of glasses. His mother Margaret had long ago gotten into the habit of having multiple pairs made due to his lifelong tendency to lose or break them, and for once he was genuinely grateful for her foresight.

“I’m telling you, Bev, I didn’t just _ magically _ wash ashore like Mike seems to think,” Richie said to his friend, the daughter of the castle’s chef. Richie had known Beverly for as long as he could remember, and she was the only person who might take him seriously on this. “Someone rescued me!”

“And now you’re in love with them, yeah I heard you the first three times,” Bev responded, not looking up from the laundry she was scrubbing in a large basin. 

Sometimes Richie felt guilty for just watching her work instead of helping, but she always got angry whenever he tried because he inevitably did something wrong and made her job more difficult. So he stayed where he was, perched on a sturdy table. “I’m not _ in love_,” he said.

“Okay, obsessed then,” she replied, pausing her scrubbing to look up at him and give her arms a brief rest. “It just seems a little weird, doesn’t it? Someone saving you and then not sticking around to get a reward for it? And besides, how could they just disappear like that without Mike seeing them?”

“I know but… it was so real,” Richie said, deflating. 

Beverly sighed. “I know. I know you think that,” she said kindly, blinking up at Richie from where she was kneeling. “But you have a pretty mean bump on your head. Your brain probably just… got a little scrambled, is all.”

Touching the bandage covering the wound on his forehead, Richie shook his head. “No, I didn’t imagine it. I couldn’t come up with that laugh even in my wildest dreams! It was perfect and I’d recognize it anywhere”

“Then invite everyone in the kingdom to the castle so you can conduct a laugh test,” she said, shrugging. 

Richie hummed, moving his hand to rub his chin. “Maybe…”

“I was kidding!”

“I know, but it’s a good idea!”

“So what would you do if someone had the right laugh? Give them gold as a reward for saving you? Or propose right there on the spot?”

Richie honestly didn’t know. He hadn’t thought much further ahead than simply locating the person who saved him. 

“You don’t even know what they look like, you blind idiot,” Bev continued.

“I kind of do! They had brown hair and brown eyes.”

“That really narrows it down.”

“Takes _ you _ off the list at least,” Richie said, smirking. 

“Yeah, because I would’ve just let you drown,” Bev replied, mirroring his smirk. He knew she was joking, though. She was the closest thing he had to a best friend, even though her crazy father wasn’t too keen on him lurking around the servants’ quarters to spend time with her. 

Beverly pushed her sleeves further up her arms and returned to her scrubbing. As she worked, Richie noticed a few fresh bruises just above her elbows, and he pictured her father grabbing her there, probably shaking her as he yelled. He was well aware of how bad Alvin Marsh’s temper was and he desperately wanted to fire the man just to get him away from the castle, but Beverly refused, stating that things would only get worse for her if they were out on the streets and her father never allow her to stay at the castle alone. It didn’t matter that she was well into her twenties, her father would never stop trying to control her, unless...

“You know, my offer still stands,” Richie said casually, not taking his eyes off of the marks on her arms. “Your dad wouldn’t be able to touch you if you were Queen, and we’d be able to get rid of him once and for all.”

He watched as Beverly flushed and paused her work to tug her sleeves back over her elbows. In Richie's opinion, it was a brilliant idea - his mother desperately wanted him to marry, and Beverly desperately needed to get out from under her father’s thumb. It would solve two problems at once, and what’s more, it would be_ fun_. He could picture spending the rest of his life hanging out with Beverly, and she certainly wasn’t bad to look at. 

“I’m not marrying you, Richie. I’ve already told you.”

“I’m serious, Bev. You need an out, and I’m giving you one,” he said earnestly. “Besides, all these princesses my mom keeps bringing to the castle have rods up their butts, and you don’t.”

“_Richie_, you can’t talk about princesses like that!”

“I can if it’s true! You’re way better than any of them! And my mom likes you.”

“She likes me as a _ serving girl. _”

“Eh, she’ll just be grateful I won’t be dying alone,” he responded, waving his hand, though he wasn’t so sure that was true. “C’mon, it’d be fun.”

“I don’t think I’d be very good at ruling a kingdom.”

“Neither am I! See, we’re made for each other,” he joked.

Beverly laughed, then shook her head. “No we aren’t and you know it. What if you marry me and then find your mystery savior?”

“You suggesting they’re my soulmate?”

“Maybe. You never know!” Beverly sat back on her heels and brushed her bright, copper hair out of her face, leaving a wet streak across her forehead. “Besides, I’ve told you a million times I want to marry for _ love_, and I know you do, too.”

It was true; Bev had been confiding in Richie about that for years. When they were twelve, she told him that all she ever dreamed of was for someone to come sweep her off her feet and rescue her from her father. She pictured a gallant knight, and at the time Richie was a little hurt by that, since he liked her and was just a gangling, spoiled prince who acted more like a court jester than a knight. His love for her waned over time though, settling into something more familial, and with age he understood that both of them were looking for something the other simply couldn’t provide. 

There was a knock on the door, then Mike entered the room. “Richie, here you are! The Queen has been asking for you all morning.”

Richie hopped to his feet and bid farewell to Bev by ruffling her hair, then followed Mike upstairs to the main floor of the castle, where they too parted ways. 

He climbed the grand staircase and then walked through the halls, up a set of spiral stairs, and through another long hallway before arriving at his mother’s bedroom door. It was dark when he entered, as the curtains were drawn over the large floor to ceiling windows. Her chambers were often dark, lately. Ever since his father’s passing the previous year, his mother had been spending most of her time in bed, alone, mourning her lost love. She rarely got properly dressed unless duty called.

Before going to her, he strode across the room and pulled the curtains away from the windows, letting the bright midday light into the room. He turned to look at her as she groaned, flinging her arm over her eyes. 

“Richard, please!” 

“Hey, you’re the one who asked for me,” he said, walking over to her bed. “You can’t expect me to sit and talk to you in the dark.”

She dropped her arm and blinked at him as her eyes adjusted to the sun, then sat up, propping herself up against a pillow and taking in his appearance. “Your head...”

Richie sat down on the edge of the mattress and let her examine his bandage. When he met her eyes, he saw tears forming. “I’m okay, don’t cry.”

“I thought you… I was so worried I could hardly move or speak,” she said, moving her hand from his forehead to his cheek. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you, and on your birthday too.”

The image of his mother flinging herself from a balcony entered Richie’s mind, but he pushed it away. She’d be grief stricken, more than she already was, but surely wouldn’t have gone to those lengths. “Well, good thing we’ll never have to find out. Can’t get rid of me that easily!” he said lightly, hoping to make her laugh.

She didn’t. Instead she shook her head. “Oh, please don’t joke,” she said worriedly. “I’m so grateful for Michael, he really took charge of the search party. He does so much for us, you know.”

Richie nodded. His mother absolutely adored Mike, whose father, William, was the Royal Adviser to Richie’s father. Now Mike was training to assume the same role for Richie, while William spent most of his time caring for the grieving Queen. Although kind, intelligent, eternally patient Mike completely deserved her respect and appreciation, Richie still felt a pang of jealousy every time she praised him. He secretly thought Mike would make a better King than he ever could, and he often wondered if the same thought ever crossed his mother’s mind. He never asked; he didn’t want to know. 

“Yeah, I’m lucky he found me on the beach before I baked too much in the sun and came back bright red,” he said, and brought his hands up like claws to snap at his mother. “Like a giant, blind lobster!”

Her lips briefly turned up at the corners, and he beamed at her. His mother used to laugh and smile all day, every day when his father was still around, but then he got sick, and she stopped. Now Richie called it a victory if he even got a fleeting twitch out of her. 

“He told me you were speaking nonsense about someone saving you,” she said, her hands moving to toy with her silky, straw colored hair. It differed so much from his own wild, dark waves. Richie was, in most aspects, the spitting image of his father, but he shared his mother’s blue eyes. 

“It wasn’t nonsense,” he retorted, rolling his eyes at Mike’s complete disbelief of his story. He didn’t want to get into it again, though. It was bad enough being humored by Beverly, he didn't need his mom taking pity on him either. “I’m afraid, though, that your birthday gift is long gone.”

“Oh, that thing,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter, I can always commission a new one.”

“Please don’t.”

“Truthfully I think Wentworth would have thought it silly,” she admitted. “And all that matters to me is that you’re alive.” Her voice was kind yet sad, as if she was worried he wasn’t really there. Richie could see in her eyes that she was still thinking about a different scenario, one where he never came back and she was left alone with no husband and no son.

“Don’t dwell on it, okay?” he said. “Just remember this as the worst birthday ever, not a near death experience. That’s what I’m gonna do.”

“Oh fine. I’m sorry you had a terrible birthday, honey,” she said, and reached out to pat his cheek.

“You know how you can make it up to me?”

“How?”

“By getting dressed today and joining me for dinner,” he said, his voice taking on a rare seriousness. 

For a moment, he was sure she would say she couldn’t, that her body felt too heavy to move, but slowly, she nodded. “Alright. I will, for you.”

~~*~~

Meanwhile, in a secluded area of the kelp forest which surrounded the merpeople’s kingdom, Eddie sat on the ocean floor, dreamily running his fingers through the sand as Stan nervously swam back and forth above him. 

“Will you relax?” Eddie asked, grinning up at him. “Nothing bad happened to me!”

“It could have!”

“Stan, he would have died if I didn’t help. And he was _ nice!” _Eddie sat up a bit, propping himself up as his elbows dug into the sand. “I touched his face and… oh Stan, he was so much more handsome up close. And when he woke up and took my hand, I swear it was like… like getting zapped by an eel or something, I could feel it running through me, as if -”

“Wait, wait, back up. He _ woke up? _ Meaning he _ saw _you?!”

“Well, I’m not sure how much he saw. He was squinting. Maybe the sun was in his eyes?” Eddie suggested, but Stan knew he was only trying to placate him. 

Stan looked at Eddie and sighed heavily. “Well at least it’s over now and no one needs to find out about it. And by no one, I mean _ Bill_. I’m definitely not telling him, and _ you’re _not telling him. Ben surely won’t. So-”

“You don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“I want to _ be _ with him. Up there, on land, as one of them - as a human. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I’m just not meant to be cooped up in Bill’s palace, and especially not with my mother. I’m supposed to be up _ there_,” he continued, pointing up toward the surface. “I’ve known for so long, but it was all leading up to this. To him. Just knowing he’s out there… it makes it that much more unbearable to be,” he gestured to his fin, “like _ this_.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “That’s so sad for you, but you need to get over it, because moping about pining over some human man isn’t going to do you any good. Surely there is _ someone _ in the kingdom who’s as ‘handsome’ as he _ allegedly _ is.”

“You still don’t get it! I’m _ going _ to be with him. I'll find a way.”

“What? That’s impossible, Eddie.”

“No! I was thinking, maybe if I could make Bill see where I’m coming from -”

“Stop.”

“I mean, the Trident is _ magic, _so it has to have some sort of -”

“Eddie. Stop it.”

“I could go to him and explain! Bill has a good heart, if he just gave me a chance, he’d -”

“Eddie!!” Stan shouted, voice cracking, causing Eddie to recoil in surprise. “_Stop it_. Bill has a soft spot for you, it's true, but he’s not an idiot. You’re not going to convince him of anything by crying, or appealing to his heart, or - or fluttering your eyelashes or whatever it is you do to get him to listen to you normally. It’s not going to work, and you _ know _ that, so drop it. Seriously.”

“But…”

“Listen to me.” Stan’s voice was stern as he floated down, closer to Eddie’s eye level. “I’m not going to entertain these delusions like Ben does, so I’m going to say my piece, then I expect the subject to be dropped. So pay attention, and don’t interrupt.”

Eddie rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. That was good enough, as far as stubborn acquiescence went, so Stan cleared his throat and moved away again. “You know the saying ‘the seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake’? I think that’s what’s going on here. The only reason you think you ‘belong’ up there, or with him, or whatever, is because you just haven’t opened your eyes to how great things are _here.” _

Before continuing, he paused to glance at Eddie to make sure he was listening politely. “And I get it. I do. When you were with your mother, you didn’t really get to experience what sea life is actually like. Even now, you only leave the palace to collect your silly human trinkets. You don’t need to become something else, what you _ need _ is to look around and appreciate what’s already at your disposal.”

On a roll now and feeling like he somehow cracked the case of what made Eddie so insufferable, Stan began to swim back and forth again, focusing only on his train of thought and nothing else. 

“Never mind the dangers of humanity and how they _ hunt _ and _ eat _sea life, because you’ve already heard that and for whatever reason it hasn’t gotten through to you,” he continued. “So it’s time for a different approach. Let me tell you a little about what sets the ocean apart.”

“Stan…”

“I said don’t interrupt!” Stan briefly glared at Eddie before returning to his focused pacing. “You say humans _ make _ beautiful things, but beautiful things exist in the ocean on their _ own_. This kelp forest we’re in right now, for instance, not to mention the coral reefs you’ll see if you swim further south.”

“Yeah. _ Much _ further.”

“Well, they’re still _ there_. And the creatures that live here are much more varied and abundant than anything they’ve got up there. Do you think humans are capable of letting any creature as huge and majestic as the blue whale live on land? No. And nothing is better than seeing a huge, hundred-year-old turtle pass overhead.”

Stan was grinning as he ran his fingers along a kelp leaf, not paying any attention to Eddie now. There was little he enjoyed more than talking about the strange creatures that existed throughout the oceans, many of which he’d never seen personally but only heard of from traveling merfolk passing through to other kingdoms. For Eddie’s sake, though, he kept his focus on local inhabitants. 

“The sturgeon can leap fully out of the water just because they feel like it. Manta rays swim long distances and stop at coral reefs to get clean, because they know the importance of good personal hygiene. Whales and dolphins get along like they’re friends!” he continued to rant, sure he was making a solid point. “And that’s a great thing about the ocean, Eddie - a lot of species get along, or at least trade services with each other… little parasites get food while larger creatures get clean, you know? It’s harmony. There’s no harmony on land, and it’s _ because _ of humans.”

He let out a wistful sigh. “Life is _ better _ down here, under the sea. Things make _ sense _ down here. You don’t realize it because of your mother, but you can go anywhere you want down here!” he explained excitedly. “On land it’s much harder to get around. Humans waste time building those ridiculous and breakable ships only to die in them! You and I, we can go where we want, whenever we want, with ease. Just like the turtles and whales, or any number of other creatures - you could spend your whole life exploring the ocean and never even see a _ fraction _ of it.” 

As his impassioned speech came to a close, Stan laughed. “There can’t _ possibly _ be anything up on land as appealing as that, not to someone who likes exploring as much as you claim to, Eddie. Up there, you’ll be more trapped than ever, especially once they find out what you _ are_. I know there’s no way you’re _ actually _ naive enough to think-” 

He stopped mid-sentence, because when he finally turned around, Eddie was gone. 

Stan dropped his shoulders in defeat.

He had no idea when Eddie swam off, but he could hazard a guess that whatever caused him to do so was _ not _ a renewed passion for underwater living. He ran his hands through his dark hair in frustration.

It wasn’t as if Stan truly expected anything else. Throughout the kingdom, it was well known that Eddie made decisions on a whim and thought with his heart rather than his brain. Stan couldn’t imagine acting so recklessly, but then, _ his _ parents taught him from a young age how to carefully consider all courses of action before making an _ informed _ decision. He reminded himself that Eddie was raised by a veritable monster who did all the thinking for him - _ of course _ he’d been rendered incapable of rational thought! There was no point in getting frustrated with him for it.

The fact remained, though, that Eddie was inevitably going to get hurt from pursuing this idealistic nonsense. He had to be protected from himself, and if he wasn’t going to listen to Stan...

It was time to get Bill involved. 

~~*~~

Toward the end of Stan’s horrendously boring lecture about _ sea life_, Ben snuck up on Eddie and told him he had a surprise for him, then led him to his grotto as though it were any other day. As they slipped inside, Eddie could feel the excitement radiating off of his friend, and as such could barely contain his own.

He expected some kind of addition to his collection - another painting, maybe - but what he _ wasn’t _expecting was the statue of Prince Richie, standing right in the center of the grotto. 

“Ben, how?” he asked in soft amazement, swimming up to it with wide eyes. It was more regal than he remembered, with one knee bent over a slab of stone and one hand over its chest. In its other hand, it held a weapon of some kind, and its eyebrows were knit together in serious concentration.

“I saw it nearby while I was swimming around and thought, you know, that I’d try to get it in here for you,” Ben replied, smiling bashfully. “It wasn’t easy. Statues of humans are _ really _ heavy.”

Eddie grinned and left the statue’s side to throw his arms around Ben’s neck. “It’s perfect! Thank you!” 

A light blush had bloomed on Ben’s cheeks by the time he let go, but Eddie took no notice of it as he swam back to the statue, right up to its face. “It looks just like him! Even up close,” he said wistfully, running his hand along the statue’s cheek. Everything about it was so lovely, with its strong jaw and high cheekbones. Its eyes were blank and stone gray, but he remembered exactly what Richie’s eyes looked like - deep blue, like the ocean - so it would be easy to pretend.

He wrapped one arm around the statue’s broad shoulders and sat perched on its knee, his pink fin curling beneath its thigh. Resting his head against the statue’s chest, he looked dramatically up at its face and batted his eyelashes. 

“Oh, Richie - you want me to run away with you? This is so sudden, I couldn’t possibly!” He giggled, as if the statue had told a joke, and tapped his chin in mock concentration. “Oh wait, actually, no, you convinced me. Take me now! Anywhere as long as it’s far away from here!”

“Uh, Eddie -”

“Not now Ben, Richie and I are planning our lives together!” he joked, grinning as he looked over at Ben. His smile immediately fell away, though, because Ben wasn’t alone anymore. Floating next to him now was Stan, and next to Stan was… 

“Bill!” He leapt off of the statue’s lap. “Bill, I -” 

“Eddie... when I make a law, there’s a r-reason for it. And when I tell you to f-_follow _ that law, there’s a _ reason _ for it,” Bill spoke slowly, his tone stern and tense. He swam forward so that he was hovering over Eddie. “When I took you in, I s-swore to myself I wouldn’t let any harm c-come to you, but it seems like you’re _ trying _ to make that d-d-_difficult_.”

“Bill, no that’s not -” 

“It was me,” Ben interjected, swimming closer. “I brought the statue here, not Eddie.”

Bill shot him a look of warning. “A-and the rest of this j-junk? I suppose you did all that as well?” he asked, gesturing broadly to the cavern walls.

Ben dropped his gaze, and Bill turned his attention back to Eddie. 

“Stan t-told me you rescued a human from drowning! T-t-_tell _ me it isn’t true,” he demanded, his blue eyes looking into Eddie’s brown ones pleadingly. “_Tell me_.”

“I had to! There was a storm and-”

“Have you lost your m-mind?! _How_ did you go from exploring their sh-shipwrecks to interfering with their lives in one single d-d-_day_, Eddie?” Bill asked incredulously. “When I t-_told_ you exactly why you needed to s-stop!”

“He could have_ died _ if I didn’t-”  
  
“No YOU could have died!” Bill snapped, cutting Eddie off. “You c-can’t just g-g-go around risking your life for th-those evil, murderous m-monsters! You’re too important!!”

“But I love him!” Eddie yelled back, then immediately covered his mouth, eyes going wide at Bill’s appalled expression.

“You c-can’t _ love _ him, you don’t even kn-know him!”  
  
“Well… neither do you!” Eddie argued, knowing he was only making things worse for himself. 

Bill sighed deeply.

“Okay. You know wh-what? I’m done trying to r-reason with you, Eddie,” he said, and pointed the Trident at one of the artifact displays. “This ends n-now.”

A beam of light shot out of the Trident, destroying every trinket in its path and eliciting a pained gasp from Eddie. 

“Bill stop!” he cried, trying to grab at the Trident to no avail. “No! Please!” Bill held him back and continued to point at shelf after shelf, destroying everything Eddie had been painstakingly collecting since before they met. “Stop!!”

The King’s eyes were swollen and bloodshot, like he was trying not to cry, and he didn’t look at Eddie as he finally pointed the Trident at the statue. Eddie immediately bolted in front of it. “Please don’t! _ Please, Bill!! _”

“It’s the only way, Eddie,” he said, gently pushing Eddie aside, still without meeting his gaze. If he looked at him now, Bill knew he would relent. He couldn’t take seeing the fear and hurt that undoubtedly filled Eddie’s eyes, and he couldn’t take knowing he was at fault for it. “You’ll th-thank me later.”

A beam of light shot out of the Trident and the statue cracked easily from the force of it. None of the time and labor that likely went into creating it for Richie mattered anymore, because it only took seconds for it all to come apart. And as one hundred pieces of stone sunk to the ground, the cavern went silent. Eddie stared in horror at the spot where the statue stood moments before, and Bill lowered the Trident, finally looking around at the damage he caused. If he’d only paid closer attention, it wouldn’t have had to come to this, but he had to, for Eddie. 

He would keep telling himself that for as long as it took to believe it.

Still, as Eddie put his hands over his face to cover up his sobs, Bill couldn’t help but feel guilty. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. When he turned around, he was met with Stan staring at him in shock and Ben looking pointedly at the floor. 

With a heavy heart, Bill averted his gaze and slowly made his way out of the grotto, leaving the two of them to tend to the aftermath of his temper.

“Eddie…” Ben began after a moment of silence, exchanging a glance with Stan.

“Go away, both of you,” Eddie whispered, lifting his head just long enough to give them an exhausted, melancholic look. “...Please.”

Ben started to move toward him, but Stan grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Stan felt bad about what happened, just as Bill did, but it was better this way. Eddie would understand, he simply needed some time to cool off. He cocked his head toward the cavern entrance and began to swim toward it. Reluctantly, Ben followed. 

Some time passed before Eddie moved again, his sobs having subsided only to be replaced by a dull, pulsing anger. He surveyed the mess of debris that was once his greatest treasure, his beloved collection of artifacts from places he would never get the chance to see. Now he couldn’t dream, couldn’t even _ pretend _there was a thread connecting him to the world above. It was gone. Ruined.

Looking around the cavern, he couldn’t see anything worth salvaging. Some of his favorite things - the dancing couple that played music, the books that gave him such insight into human lives - were completely destroyed. Then there was the statue…

He ducked down to the sand and picked up a piece of the beautiful, smooth stone. It was only part of Richie’s face - an eye, his nose, half of his lips. Earlier he thought it looked just like him, but now Eddie realized the sculpture was too sad and serious to be Richie. It was hardly at all like the real thing. 

But it was better than nothing. At least with the statue he could pretend.

He let the stone slip from his fingers.

What was the point? 

There was no use in trying to rebuild his collection from scratch. What was he going to do, hope that more ships sank? Now that he’d witnessed it firsthand, it no longer seemed like a fun and interesting adventure to go on. The notion only made him feel sad, just as looking around the cavern now made him feel sad. No - he couldn’t rebuild any of it, and he didn’t want to come back here anymore, anyway.

As he looked down once more at the shattered remnants of Richie’s face, he saw an open box of corroded trinkets on the ground. Some of them were still whole. He rushed down and picked through them, thinking maybe, just maybe… he could take one thing with him, to remember his collection by. 

He settled on a small ring of metal, rough and green with the faintest glimmer of something shiney visible through the grime and corrosion. Though it wasn’t much to look at now, he knew it was once beautiful, as was everything else in his collection. 

The water had simply ruined it, like it ruined all things. 

It was too small for most of his fingers, as though it was crafted for a child, but it slipped easily onto the smallest finger on his right hand, so that’s where he left it. With his souvenir in place, he left the cavern, knowing it was for the last time. 

There was no going back. Not to the cave, and not to Atlantica. 

Bill, he decided in that moment, was no better than his mother. She too nursed the wounds of the past as if they were the only things keeping her afloat. She too claimed to keep him prisoner for his own good, under the guise of _ protection. _She too refused to see reason. 

He realized, for the first time, that in running to Bill for sanctuary from her, he had simply traded one set of chains for another. Yet, perhaps there was something his mother could still do for him.

When he left the cave’s entrance, he swam right by Ben and Stan, who had clearly been waiting for him. 

“Eddie, wait up!” Ben called.

They both chased after him when he didn’t stop or look back. “Eddie, I know you’re angry, but you have to understand,” Stan began, but stopped when Eddie still didn’t acknowledge him. “Excuse me, I’m talking to you! It was for your own good.”

“I’d like it if everyone stopped deciding what’s for my own good,” he snapped back, swimming faster. “I’m twenty four years old, I can make decisions for myself.”

Both of the others sped up as well. “Where are you going?” Ben asked.

“Home.”

“The palace is the other way,” Stan said pointedly.

“I know. I’m not going there,” Eddie replied, staring ahead with determination. “I’m going to see my mother.”

Ben gasped. “What?! Eddie, you can’t!” 

“That monster? After all she’s done? Eddie! Can you stop and think about this!?” Stan shouted, grabbing for Eddie’s arm. 

Eddie glared at him, jerking his body out of Stan’s reach. “Why don’t you go tell Bill about it? You’re good at that.”

With that, he sped off in the direction of the Sea Witch’s lair. 

Ben and Stan exchanged a look, both wondering if they _ should _warn the King. But after a moment’s consideration and without saying a single word to each other, they swam after Eddie instead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!  
If you'd like, you can find me on Tumblr @[dear-wormwoods](https://dear-wormwoods.tumblr.com/).


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